Tag Archives: Katie Piper

Mango Jam – trust me there isn’t another decent recipe for it!

Those of you who know me well, understand my secret vice. No, not that one…..but jam making. I absolutely adore it, there is something so therapeutic about a large pan full of bubbling fruit and sugar which you then place in to crystal clean glass jars. It’s a blend of 50’s housewife meets “Charlie and the Chocolate factory”.  So there I was in the supermarket, and I see a pile of delicious, Alfonso mangoes on special offer – 4 for £1, can you believe it? I had to have them and so bought 8, with visions of a delicious, tropical jam in mind.  However, I get home and scour through my adored Marguerite Patten’s “Guide to Jams and Jellies” and there is nothing, I then resort to the internet and again, the only recipe that pops up is far too over-spiced for my liking. So it’s invention time! I decide that there is probably very little pectin and mangoes and will therefore rely on my good friend, commercial pectin. 1 hour later, I have six bottles of the most delightful looking mango jam and it was easy, easy, easy. Try it and see. Ingredients:

  • 1 kilo of fresh, chopped up ripe mango (that’s the worst bit of the recipe, as they can be messy)  
  • 1.5 kilos of preserving sugar
  • 1 bottle of commercial pectin (I use Certo).

Method

  • Place the sugar and the mangoes in to a large preserving pan and heat very gently until all the sugar has dissolved
  • Boil rapidly – that’s really bubbling for just 1 minute
  • Remove from the heat and stir in the Certo
  • Leave for 20 minutes and then bottle in to clean, sterilised jam jars.I made the mistake of bottling straight away, and that meant that all the fruit floated to the tops of the jars. Next time, I’ll leave it in the pan for twenty minutes and bottle it then. I’m also planning to make a vanilla sponge cake and put mango jam and whipped double cream with coconut liquer in it as a sort of tropical victoria jam sponge. Watch out for pictures.

Last and totlally unrelated to jam,  I just had to put in this picture of me meeting “One Direction” at the Katie Piper Ball on Thursday. They look faintly terrified don’t they??